Raptor Migration 4/28-29/2022

    On Thursday and Friday more than 100 raptors were seen migrating over my property.  More than half were Turkey Vultures but 51 others represented 9 species.  The first Broad-wingeds of the year were seen....

  ...which included a dark morph seen below.

Immature Red-shouldered Hawk

Rough-legged

Molting Red-tailed

An Osprey brought its own lunch

  The usually speedy Peregrine Falcon slowed to do a few spins over the yard.

Another Rough-legged on Friday

A Cooper's Hawk probably not migrating

   The Bald Eagles below were not migrating either but the lead bird appears to have found a place for one stop shopping as it is carrying tattered fish remains and nesting material.

   Stay tuned for updates on these eagles because they appear to be repeating the behavior that I saw from them last year where one would fly north empty-handed, then a short while later fly south with a fish in its grasp. I suspect that there is a nest a little to the south of me. 

Pelicans and So Much More 4/23/2022

 

  A busy bird day was expected Saturday with southerly winds aiding migration in the preceding overnight. While searching for new arrivals in the front yard I noticed two huge white birds over the lake about to disappear behind the neighbor's trees.  I took off in a sprint to the backyard waterfront and was able to get a few photos of a pair of American White Pelicans meandering southward. They are the 101st species that I've seen from home so far this year.  Last year I didn't hit 100 until May 2.

  Other new arrivals for the year were

Palm Warbler

Bank Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

  Also a couple of House Wrens were heard and seen but wouldn't pose for the camera. They brought my yard total for the year to 104.  As I was processing the images in the late afternoon I received a text from Brian Brosky about a Cattle Egret found by Brendan Klick in Grant Twp.  Needing that bird for my Mason County list I grabbed the camera and headed out to Townline Rd where the egret was of course, hanging out with cattle.

  After locating and photographing the bird, I checked the Mason-Manistee-Oceana County Bird Chat on Discord and saw that Brendan Klick also found a Wilson's Phalarope just a mile south of the egret on Beyer Rd.  I was there within a couple minutes and was able to get some distant shots of the phalarope.

  The phalarope is also a first for me in the county. My county list is at 252.

King Eider Ludington Harbor 4/20/2022

  Mason County birding is on fire.  For the second time in a week a county first has been found.  Over the weekend Donna and John Haack found a Yellow-crowned Night Heron and yesterday Grand Rapids area birder Steve Minard found a King Eider just north of the north breakwall of Ludington Harbor. 

  Just before 1 pm I received a call from Brian Brosky relaying Steve Minard's discovery. As quickly as I could, I headed out to the north pier where Brian had already relocated the arctic duck.  The bird was somewhat cooperative as it provided an array of activity all within a relatively short distance of the pier.

Periscoping

Flying

Shaking off water

Feeding

  With the peak of the spring migration coming in the next few weeks let's hope the county's hot streak continues. 

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron Mason County 4/18/2022

   

    Yesterday Donna and John Haack found a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in Grant Township.  It is the first record of this southern bird in Mason County. Today with Brian Brosky guiding me by texts I got to the correct location on Nurnberg Rd, where I was fortunate enough to find another birder Joe Lipar, who was able to point me right at the seemingly glowing yellow crown of the wayward heron about 50 yards from the road.

  That's enough road birding.  Here's what has been visiting me at my house lately...

April 11 brought...

Belted Kingfisher

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Peregrine Falcon

 On April 12 I saw...

Northern Flicker

Purple Finch

Flock of Scoters

Mostly White-winged but not always 
Black Scoter in yellow circle and Surf Scoter in the red.

And on April 13 the south wind brought the first of the year....

Northern Harrier

White-Crowned Sparrow

Brown Thrasher

As well as a Common Loon.

  So far for the year I've seen 95 bird species from the yard which puts me about 2 weeks ahead of last year when I didn't hit that total until May 1.

Red-throated Loon 3/21/2022

 

  For the second year in a row I spotted a Red-throated Loon off shore from my yard.  Last year's bird required a spotting scope zoomed to 60x magnification and a couple of guide books to ID due to its distance estimated at half a mile.  By contrast this year's RT Loon was nearly at the shoreline 120' below the top of the bluff.  In fact it was so close that I didn't see it while I was seated 8' from the edge. It was only after I stood up to calmly remind my dog that barking at woodchucks is not appreciated by anyone, that I looked down and saw the loon. When I notified a few local birders of the sighting, Dave Dister texted back that last year's bird also showed up on March 21. 

  When predicted rain never materialized the persistent east southeasterly winds made for optimal conditions for bird migration as it pushed ducks up the coast and raptors toward the shore.  I ended up with 48 species for the day that included 9 species of ducks, 7 species of raptors, 525 Tundra Swans and  117 Sandhill Cranes.  Nine first of the year species were observed which brought the year's total to 67 and a flock of Northern Pintails became the 179th species on the all-time yardlist. 

   Here are a few photographic highlights

Tundra Swans

 

Dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk

Adult Red-shouldered Hawk

Immature Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Northern Pintails, yardbird 179

Sandhill Cranes

Bird Dog at Night 3/13/2022

 

   A prediction of a Northern Lights display had me outside last night waiting for a show that never materialized.  Turns out it had already peaked before the Sun went down.  While out I decided to try to do some owling.  I started by imitating a Saw-whet Owl's toot call.  No response.  I had better luck when I tried the Eastern Screech Owl's whinny and monotonic trill.  After a few attempts I heard one...and then a second Screech Owl reply.

  As I listened, I noticed my dog Nico looking up at the closest tree about 10 feet away.  Sure enough with her super night vision she had located the owl who had relocated and was silently checking us out.  With the camera already out, I repositioned to get a better angle at the bird. 

  Not the best shot but the lump on the horizontal branch is the owl.

     Ten years and 5 days ago while attempting another ultimately unsuccessful photo session with the Northern Lights I took the photo below. 

   It's my late dog Roscoe with Canis Major (the Big Dog) in the background sky.

   And last night....

It's almost like history repeating.  What has changed it 10 years?...new dog, I live 200 miles farther north, the dog photo taken with phone instead of camera, the bird on Roscoe's night was a peenting  American Woodcock but best of all I didn't have to drive 70 miles to find a relatively dark sky.